Talk Abstract: Few commodities are hotter right now than bitcoin, the world’s most popular digital currency, which has rocketed up to around $19,000 last week (Dec 18, 2017) from less than $1,000 since Jan. 1, 2017.

Bitcoin is a crypto currency and worldwide payment system. It is the first decentralized digital currency, as the system works without a central bank or single administrator. The network is peer-to-peer and transactions take place between users directly through the use of cryptography, without an intermediary. These transactions are verified by network nodes and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain.

Currently, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment. Starting Dec 2017 , Coinucopia, a Sacramento-based startup, offers instant access to bitcoin at automated teller machines in northern California, in locations as varied as the South Bay’s Westfield Valley Fair mall, a Berkeley gas station and an Oakland liquor store.

September 2017 was rocky for bitcoin in which the digital currency briefly plunged more than $2,000 as China cracked down on crypto currencies and J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon called bitcoin a "fraud" that "won't end well."

Crypto currency is a medium of exchange like normal currencies such as USD, but designed for the purpose of exchanging digital information through a process made possible by certain principles of cryptography. Cryptography is used to secure the transactions and to control the creation of new coins. The first crypto currency to be created was Bitcoin back in 2009. Today there are hundreds of other crypto currencies, often referred to asAltcoins.

In this two hour presentation, the speaker will present the history, the technology, and the market of Bitcoin, Blockchain and crypto currencies in general.

Speaker Bio: Dr. William Kao received his BSEE, MSEE and PhD from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He workedin the Semiconductor and Electronic Design Automation industries for more than 30 yearsholding several senior and executive engineering management positions at Texas Instruments, Xerox Corporation, Cadence DesignSystems.

Dr. Kao has authored more than 40 technical papers at IEEE Journals and Conferences, and holds eight software and IC design patents. He was an Adjunct Professor at UCLA Electrical Engineering Department where he taught courses in computer aided IC design.

Dr. Kao is a Senior Member of IEEE, and was one of the founding members of IEEE-Circuits and Systems - Silicon Valley Chapter, where he was Chapter Chair in 2005 and 2006.

Dr. Kao currently teaches Renewable Energy, Clean Technology and Business Sustainability courses at the University of California Santa Cruz, Silicon Valley Extension.

Dr. Kao current interests include the subjects of Energy, Environment and Education.